How to Determine a Yearly Salary

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Whether you are job hunting or considering switching jobs, it is important to have exact salary figures when you are comparing jobs so you can make the most informed decision. Many job descriptions only provide an annual or yearly salary, so it is important to be able to convert the monthly, weekly or hourly wages of your current job into a yearly total salary figure so you are comparing apples to apples. Conversion of weekly or monthly wages to annual salary is easy and only requires a few simple calculations.

Determine the length of the pay period of your current job by looking at a recent pay stub. If the pay period is monthly, then the number to multiply your paycheck by is 12. If the pay period is every two weeks, the number to multiply by is 26. If the pay period is weekly, then the number is 52.

Calculate the average amount you receive in each paycheck. In most cases it will be a set number, like when you are on a straight salary and are paid the same amount each pay period. However, if you are paid hourly and work an irregular number of hours, then you have to calculate an average paycheck. Do this by adding up the total amount from your last 10 paychecks and dividing that number by 10. Use this as your average paycheck figure.

Multiply the average amount you receive in each paycheck by the number of pay periods in a year. For example, if you are paid a monthly salary of $3,000 a month, you multiply $3,000 times 12 to get a total yearly salary of $36,000. If you are paid $1,000 as a weekly salary, you multiply $1,000 by 52 for a total annual salary of $52,000. If you are paid hourly, and you earned an average weekly pay of $850, for example, then you multiply $850 times 52 for a total yearly salary of $44,200.

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About the Author

Clayton Browne has been writing professionally since 1994. He has written and edited everything from science fiction to semiconductor patents to dissertations in linguistics, having worked for Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Steck-Vaughn and The Psychological Corp. Browne has a Master of Science in linguistic anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.